Chauncey Billups wants to run an NBA franchise but Nuggets already have their GM in place

 

Chauncey Billups wants to be in an NBA front office in the near future and has the resume, basketball acumen, connections throughout the league and notoriety to land a general manager position if the right one was available.

The most logical place for Billups to land would be in Denver. He grew up in the Mile High City, stayed local and played his college ball at the University of Colorado, and had two separate stints with the Nuggets, most notably from 2008-2011 when he led them to the Western Conference Finals. The only problem is, the Nuggets have a general manager in place who’s doing a damn good job and executing the plan he came to Denver with three years ago.

Connelly hit on first-round picks Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris and Jusuf Nurkic and has found some gems in the second round in Nikola Jokic and Joffrey Lauvergne, who say what you want about his performance this season, has outplayed his draft slot.

He managed to get a first-round pick for Ty Lawson after multiple DUI’s drained his trade value, stole Will Barton from Portland and signed him to one of the best contracts in the league, and has crafted the Nuggets into a franchise that players actually want to stay with, in a city they want to live in, something that seemed unfathomable two years ago.

Connelly also took a broken locker room and added Mike Miller, Jameer Nelson and a positive-minded coach in Michael Malone to restore order internally – not a bad resume for someone who’s been on the job for less than three years.

Outside of his first couple free agent signing when he took the job in 2013, Connelly has executed his plan of building through the draft without bottoming out. Two years later, the Nuggets are poised to contend for the eighth seed with an established young core of players mixed with starter quality veterans on fair market contracts.

To scrap what Connelly’s built and how he’s set the Nuggets up for the future and insert Billups, who you would think would want full autonomy over the franchise, is risky. Mudiay, Jokic, Gary Harris, Will Barton and Jusuf Nurkic have shown on the court that with some minor tinkering can be part of the core in Denver that takes the Nuggets back to the playoffs.

The case for Billups

In Billups, the positives would be obvious. The hire would be a huge PR move for a franchise desperately in need of one, potentially leading to an immediate jump in attendance, ratings, and notoriety around the league. Billups could also have more pull with free agents and might get the Nuggets a seat at the table or meeting with a max-level star when one becomes available.

Billups hasn’t openly campaigned for the GM or a front office job in Denver but isn’t toeing around the idea that he wants back in the league if a position with the right circumstances became available.

“I’ve always had a passion to run a team, to put together a team,” Billups said recently said on Mile High Sports radio. “That’s always been a passion of mine. I think I could do a phenomenal job at that.”

“If the right role was available -€” and I’ve always made known, I haven’t been quiet or private about it at all,” Billups said.

Adding Billups to the front office would get insanely high approval ratings amongst Denver fans, but to abandon ship, right now, would be a step back from where Connelly has taken the franchise. Who’s to say free agents would be receptive to come to Denver, a non-playoff team with no other stars, just because of Billups? The track record for ex-players running teams is also spotty at best and the grass isn’t always greener. Disrupting what’s been built over the past two years to take a chance on Billups with the possibility that it may or may not work, is not something this franchise can afford to do right now.

Denver has a huge summer coming up in a draft where they have three first-round picks to work with and cap space to make a signing that could have a substantial impact next season. The black eye on Connelly’s tenure so far are his moves in free agency and over the next two years he has a chance to restore his reputation in that aspect. Nate Robinson and J.J. Hickson happened and that can’t be dismissed, but can GM’s not get better at their jobs?

We’ll find out over the next two summers when the Nuggets have cap space to play with and are moving away from rebuilding and towards the playoffs.

When does Connelly’s clock run out?

The Nuggets just extended Connelly and his staff’s contracts in January and from President Josh Kroenke’s comments, it seems they’re comfortable with how the team is progressing.

“Over the past few years Tim, Arturas, and the rest of our front office staff have worked tirelessly in reshaping our roster and our entire organizational vision for the future,” said Kroenke in the team’s press release. “Whether through the draft, trades, or free agency, we have an excellent mix of players and are extremely well positioned moving forward.”

The Nuggets should contend or be within a couple games of the eighth seed next season, but once again the West will be tough. If the summer of 2018 hits and Denver has had two offseasons to improve their roster with near maximum level cap space and is still not approaching a top-4 seed in the West, it might be time to reevaluate. That would mean Denver’s current core hasn’t taken the necessary steps to the playoffs or the Nuggets have struck out in free agency.

Continuity is one of the most important aspects in team building today, especially for a small-market franchise that isn’t high on free agents’ destination lists. To move in a new direction after Connelly has done so much right would be risky, unnecessary and a step back from what’s been built in Denver over the past couple of years.